The 2016 Fall Poker Open wrapped up in the early hours of Thanksgiving Day when the final trophy was awarded. Over 16 days of play, sixteen Borgata trophies were won. Eighteen main events and more than $2.2 million in guarantees brought out the crowds and all guarantees were covered easily. More than $3.6 million in prize money was paid out as well.

Travis Hartshorn 2016 Fall Poker Open Champion

This series was noteworthy for several reasons. The $1,000,000 Guaranteed Championship event was won by Travis Hartshorn, a 29-year-old from Pennsylvania. His heads-up battle with Borgata regular David Johnston was record-setting, taking six hours to determine a winner. Third-place finisher Gloria Jackson also carved her name in the Borgata history books just by making it to the final table. Her 3rd place finish ties Kathy Liebert’s finish in the 2005 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship. (Vanessa Selbst is the only woman to finish higher — she finished 2nd in the 2013 WPT BPO Championship and still holds the record as the highest finishing female in Borgata Open Championship history.)

It’s unusual to see any women at the big event final tables and this one had two. Valerie Novak lost a flip to finish 9th in the Championship, making her the 5th-highest finishing female in a Borgata Open Championship. The only other woman to make a Championship final table was Esther Taylor, who finished 5th in the 2015 WPT BPO Championship.

Zhaoxing Wang added his name to the very short list of players who have won two trophy events during a single series.

Howard Wolper added another notch to his record number of cashes at a single venue.

A complete list of Main Event winners is below. On behalf of Borgata, we would like to thank all the participants for making the 2016 Fall Poker Open a historic series and congratulate all the winners. From the Fall Poker Open bloggers,@TKbluffs,@Kaelaine,@out_of_positionand players, thanks to Borgata tournament staff for another excellent tournament series!

Very soon after Goran Kojic and Paulie Georges busted the final table, the remaining six talked about an adjusted payout. When the discussion was finished, it was an amazing second FPO title for Zhaoxing Wang!

Wang played a terrific tournament. He was short for nearly all of the middle levels, but when the rest of the players tightened around the bubble, Wang opened up his game and rose from the dust to a playable stack. A key value bet with kings on an ace high board seemed to be the turning point for him.

Again and again he got involved, correctly, and whether he won or lost the pot, his chips were in play. Wang is a deserving winner of the trophy. Earlier this series, Wang claimed Event 2.

Ed Grau took second. He also played a solid tournament as well. Busting Quintin Trammell with a set helped move the final table to completion and also gave him more chips than any other player. A great run for Grau.

Ed Grau (Middle River, MD) was a force throughout.

Third place Steve Prager was relatively average stacked for most of the tournament and fought for pots throughout. He survived a key all in against Rich Ruffman to smooth his path to a deep run.

Zhaoxing Wang, perhaps recognizing the stack size situation, has been all in three of the last four hands. He’s taking down valuable chips and is keeping his tourney alive.

Wang has over 600,000

On the other table, Ed Grau just picked up a huge double through Bill Lavery. With top pair, he faded Lavery’s flopped open ended {10x}{9x} on {8x}{7x}{kx} to take key pot and leave Lavery in the danger zone.

Grau now has around 900,000, and former leader Simmons is back to average after Wang’s last beat on him.

Zhaoxing Wang continues a wild late run. He just eliminated the last few bigs of Paul Schedecker, who finished a great run in 14th. Want got in {Ad}{10d} and faded the outs of the subserviant {Qd}{jd}.

Wang: “Do you want me to call?” The response was not a confident one.

Soon afterward, he got to make a great decision, but as so often happens, the cards have just spurned him.

Nick Malafis made a shove for his remaining nine bigs, and at a tight table, it can be hard to go with a potentially dominated hand, but Wang made the call with {As}{10s}.

Malafis showed him {Ax}{8x}.

However, that was soon to be no problem for Nick, as trips on the turn left Wang drawing dead.

The confident chip leader, Charles Simmons, looks on.

As the break started, James Briggs went out for 13th and $605 as well.

We just hit a pay jump but Charles Simmons is not thinking of laddering – he wants the whole thing.

Against the dangerous Zhaoxing Wang, who, unfortunately for the other players, now has chips, he put in a river bet on a flushing board. Wang got away from it, but Simmons flashed an {As}, for an interesting show of top pair.

What else did he have?

Simmons has over 900,000.

Meanwhile, Danny G. is out. He’s made the short stack work and laddered up. Well done.

“Being a short stack is no laughing matter,” Danny assured us.

Danny G., getting a double on the bubble.He made the shortstack last a long time, but was finally done in by The Roofer’s two nines.

Just a second ago, Ruffman doubled with {Ax}{Kx} versus Prager’s two tens, making the pure nuts for good measure.